Last time we looked at the theory behind IP addresses, subnet masks and name resolution, and we ended the installment with a practical guide on how to change your network settings. This time we take that knowledge and extend it by introducing things like DHCP, Network Locations, Ping and much more.

In this guide we’ll take you through the steps to setup a folder on your Windows computer as an FTP repository, using a free program called FileZilla. FTP can be used to easily transfer a lot of files between computers; the FTP repository can be mapped to multiple computers across the Internet so that other people can access the directory right from Windows Explorer.

In this edition of Geek School, we are going to look at how IP addressing works. We will also cover some advanced topics like how your PC determines if the device you are communicating with is on the same network as you. We will then finish with a brief look at two name resolution protocols: LLMNR and DNS.

There are numerous modern apps that are a built into Windows 8 and they are featured prominently on the Start screen. It may well be the case that you don’t want to use them because they just aren’t apps you’re interested in, or it may be that you have found a better alternative.

Internet Explorer is a complex piece of software and hasn’t always been the browser choice of us geeks, but the truth is that it has gotten a lot better over the years so come and see what it has to offer.

In past versions of Windows Server, after using the GUI to add the Active Directory binaries to your server, you would use DCPromo to promote your server into a Domain Controller. However, DCPromo was deprecated with the release of Server 2012.

Have you ever wondered why your favorite game from Windows 95 just doesn’t seem to run on Windows 7 but other applications do? Well we have the answer for you, as well as a few solutions for how to fix it.

Hard Drives: every computer running Windows has them and none can function without them. They house all our data, so we should set them up correctly. Read on to learn more about how to use RAID to protect your data.

Most of our readers are familiar with Windows 7, but just how knowledgeable are you? Could you pass a Microsoft certification test? In our new Geek School series, we’re going to try and teach you about technology in a more in-depth fashion – starting with Windows 7, but we’re not stopping there.

PowerShell 3 has a lot of new features, including some powerful new web-related features. They dramatically simplify automating the web, and today we are going to show you how you can extract every single link off a webpage, and optionally download the resource if you so wish.

PowerShell is a great way to automate almost anything in Windows. However, its not just a scripting language. If you find yourself using it as a command line shell it may be useful to store your functions and customizations in a profile that gets loaded every time you load the Console. Read on to find out how.

Linux’s terminal commands are powerful, and Linux won’t ask you for confirmation if you run a command that won’t break your system. It’s not uncommon to see trolls online recommending new Linux users run these commands as a joke.

On Linux, the Root user is equivalent to the Administrator user on Windows. However, while Windows has long had a culture of average users logging in as Administrator, you shouldn’t log in as root on Linux.

Want to allow a standard user account to run an application as administrator without a UAC or password prompt? You can easily create a shortcut that uses the runas command with the /savecred switch, which saves the password.

VirtualBox and VMware both create virtual machines with the NAT network type by default. If you want to run server software inside a virtual machine, you’ll need to change its network type or forward ports through the virtual NAT.

Most people know that you can enable or disable the optional Windows features through the Control Panel, but today we’re going to show you how you can do the same thing through the PowerShell command line.

The X server on Linux provides your graphical desktop. If it crashes, you’ll lose all unsaved work in graphical programs, but you can recover from the crash and restart the X server without restarting your computer.

GEEK TRIVIA

DID YOU KNOW?

The world’s two oldest recorded cats belonged to a Texan named Jake Perry. The oldest of the two lived to be 38 (the other, 34); Perry attributes their longevity to a diet of bacon, eggs, broccoli, and coffee.